Princess Luna
Princess Luna, known as Nightmare Moon or Night Mare Moon when transformed or under certain other circumstances, is an Alicorn pony, the younger sister of Princess Celestia, and the main antagonist of the season onepremiere of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic as Nightmare Moon. She is also the adoptive aunt of Princess Cadance. Eventually, the Elements of Harmonyrestore Luna to her former self and she returns to rule over Equestria alongside her older sister. Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon is called by her respective earlynames Princess Selena/'Night Mare' in another depiction. Info Personality As Nightmare Moon Much like the archetypal, over-the-top villains, Nightmare Moon is overly confident of herself and dramatically declares that the protagonist is a fool (foal) for thinking she can defeat her, and that "the night will last forever." She is portrayed as vicious and maniacal, shown when she attacks Princess Celestia and cackles evilly in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2. The narration at the beginning of Friendship is Magic, part 1 speaks of Luna's bitterness which transformed her. When she first appears, she intimidates the ponies with her evil laugh and pointed questions. She snidely refers to the ponies as her "beloved subjects," but appears genuinely impressed when Twilight Sparkle recognizes her as Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon uses her magic to set obstacles in Twilight and her friends' path to the Elements of Harmony indirectly, making creatures unwittingly assist her. These include themanticore, whose paw she embeds with a thorn so he'd attack the ponies, or Steven Magnet, whose mustache she cuts off so he'd make the river impassible. She further indirectly attacks the ponies by causing a cliff side to collapse underneath the ponies' hooves and by making trees appear as monsters. As the Shadowbolts, she tries to persuadeRainbow Dash to abandon her friends so they won't be able to cross a fallen bridge and reach the Elements of Harmony. Despite her indirect approach, when she is attacked by the royal guards, she quickly repels them with lightning, then turns into mist and floats away. She also confronts Twilight Sparkle directly when the two charge at each other, right before shattering the Elements of Harmony. As Princess Luna Once transformed back to her former self, Princess Luna is remorseful and tearful upon seeing her older sister. She runs to Celestia's side, apologizing for what she had done. The two sisters later join the celebration in Ponyville, where Luna receives a welcome wreath in wonderment, and gazes up with an anxious smile at her older sister. However, as stated inDo Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?, Luna's sense of guilt causes her to create theTantabus in order to give herself nightmares every night as punishment for the suffering she caused as Nightmare Moon. Princess Luna returned to the show exactly one year after the broadcast date of Friendship is Magic, part 2, in the episode Luna Eclipsed. The episode takes place in Ponyville during Nightmare Night. Despite wanting to win over the citizens of Ponyville, the townspeople are frightened of her booming voice and assertive manner. Twilight Sparkle tells Spike that Luna must be having trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years. When Luna tries to express her happiness with being purged of her dark powers, Twilight tells her that she sounds like she's yelling, and Luna explains that she's using the "traditional Canterlot voice," the royal we, and high volume in order to properly address her subjects. She uses archaic terms like "hath," "thy," "nay," and "thou," as well as other constructs. Twilight encourages Luna to lower the volume of her voice, but Luna is hesitant. Twilight Sparkle recruits Fluttershy's help in teaching Luna to speak in a softer voice, and later takes her to Ponyville so Applejack can show her how to be likable. For a short while, Luna manages to mingle with the villagers of Ponyville and have fun with them, by playing games where she throws toy spiders or pumpkins onto a target. In Sleepless in Ponyville she seems to show less of her former decorum, dispensing with the royal we, and speaking in a far less harsh manner. Princess Luna reverts to her intimidating self after Pinkie Pie accuses her of eating Pipsqueak, while she was actually saving him from drowning in the apple bob. She attempts to endear herself to the villagers by turning toy spiders into real spiders, trying to elicit "fun" by making them crawl on their own to the bulls-eye, but the spiders only frighten everyone. The villagers panic and flee, and after a few seconds of indecision, Luna stops the commotion by shouting "Be still!" in her royal Canterlot voice, to the accompaniment of a crack of thunder. She then decrees in anger that since the ponies dishonor and insult her with the celebration, Nightmare Night is canceled forever. Thanks to Pinkie Pie's insight, Twilight Sparkle realizes that because of the holiday, Pinkie Pie and her entourage actually want to be frightened, so she arranges for Luna to purposefully scare them. Luna appears as Nightmare Moon, scares the ponies, and bares fangs. After the ponies run away in fright, she changes back to her usual appearance and spits out the false fangs she was wearing, confused as to why Twilight wanted her to do that. Then Pipsqueak approaches Luna on behalf of the children and asks her to come back and scare them again next year, even though she canceled Nightmare Night. Luna begins to understand and reinstates Nightmare Night, at which point Pipsqueak declares her his "favorite princess ever" and hugs her leg. The princess manages to relinquish the use of her royal Canterlot voice, and in the epilogue she plays a variety of games with the villagers, accepts the foals' candy, and frightens Rainbow Dash by firing a bolt of lightning behind her, a trick that Rainbow Dash had been playing on other ponies over the course of the night. In the episode Sleepless in Ponyville, she displays kindness and offers wise advice toScootaloo when she tells her to face her fears. At the end of the episode she gives Scootaloo a wink and a smile, as she knows that Scootaloo has faced her fears and she also knows that she has Rainbow Dash to help her overcome them. In For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils, Luna once again appears in a nightmare; this time, in Sweetie Belle's nightmare. She gives advice to Sweetie Belle and tells her that she as well has a sister that often "shines more brightly" than her and that she struggles with it. She then takes Sweetie Belle into the past at her fifth birthday party and shows her that Rarity did not want to take over the party, just simply save it. Later, Luna tells Sweetie to go inside a door of what the future might hold if she does not fix her sabotage of the headpiece Rarity had designed for Sapphire Shores. Later in the episode, Luna appears again in Canterlot in order to help Sweetie Belle undo the damage she did to the headpiece. Magic Raising the moon As mentioned above, Luna's chief duty is raising the moon at night when Celestia lowers the sun. Following her banishment to the moon, Luna resumes this responsibility, as shown inPrincess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1. In the episode Hearth's Warming Eve, Spike narrates that this magic is not exclusive to Luna and Celestia and that it could be performed by the unicorns of old collectively. In Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2, Luna temporarily transfers her ability to control the moon, along with all of her magic, to Twilight Sparkle. Transformation On multiple occasions, Nightmare Moon turns her entire form into mist. She appears in this manner in Ponyville's pavilion where the Summer Sun Celebration is being held, and she follows the Mane Six on their journey for the Elements this way. While in this form, Nightmare Moon manipulates creatures and environments; she transforms into a thorn to hurt a manticore, prompting it to attack the Mane Six, and she transforms into the Shadowbolts at one point. In Luna Eclipsed, Luna transforms into her Nightmare Moon form with a set of false fangs to playfully frighten some foals on Nightmare Night. In the same episode, she transforms toy spiders into living spiders. Weather manipulation Nightmare Moon uses lightning to repel the royal guards in Friendship is Magic, part 2 and thickens the mist over the fallen bridge later in the episode to prevent Rainbow Dash from hearing Twilight Sparkle calling out to her. In Luna Eclipsed, Princess Luna makes clouds swirl above her in the sky when she decrees that Nightmare Night is canceled, and she produces lightning from a cloud to playfully frighten Rainbow Dash. Dream duty In Sleepless in Ponyville, Luna appears in Scootaloo's dreams, stating that as the princess of the night, it is "her duty to come into ponies' dreams," and offers Scootaloo guidance in facing her fears. Luna makes a similar appearance in Sweetie Belle's dreams in For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils and shows Sweetie Belle visions of her past, the present, and Rarity's future. In Bloom & Gloom, Luna visits Apple Bloom's nightmare to comfort her cutie mark anxieties, and also brings Sweetie and Scootaloo into the dream. In Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?, Princess Luna hunts down the Tantabus, a nightmare creature she created that haunts the Mane Six's dreams. She jumps from dream to dream and also creates a dream that everyone in Ponyville shares. Royal guards Princess Luna's royal guards look quite different from Princess Celestia's guards. They wear black and purple armor reminiscent of Nightmare Moon's armor. And most significantly, they have purple dragon or bat-like wings instead of the standard feathered Pegasus wings. They are grey-brown and have yellow eyes with pupils in the form of slits. Their ears appear to be furrier than normal. The carriage they pull is aggressive and Gothic, with streamlined shapes evoking bat or dragon-wings as well as arrow-like or spear-like accents. It is built with a low center of gravity, and Luna's royal guards pull it via heavy chains. Story in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic History Nightmare Moon Princess Luna is introduced in the prologue of the first episode, depicted in a series of medieval-like drawings with a narration that says, "Two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land," and that "the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night." The narration continues by stating: their subjects, the ponies, played in the day but "shunned" the night and slept through it, which made the younger Alicorn grow bitter, eventually refusing to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. Her bitterness "transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon." The elder sister reluctantly harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony and "banished her permanently in the moon," taking responsibility for both sun and moon, maintaining harmony in Equestria. Following the prologue, Twilight Sparkle reads of a prophecy about the Mare in the Moon that states that "on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal." Indeed, this prophecy comes to pass, and Nightmare Moon appears before the ponies of Ponyville during the Summer Sun Celebration. At the end of the second episode, Twilight and her new friends confront Nightmare Moon and transform her back into Princess Luna with the Elements of Harmony, and she remorsefully accepts Princess Celestia's offer to rule by her side again. The show's developer, Lauren Faust, explained in a comment on her DeviantArt page that Luna could not have been "drawn" from Nightmare Moon for a thousand years, and that Princess Celestia "did what she could" to orchestrate breaking the spell that turned Luna into Nightmare Moon. Faust added that this explanation is "as far as she ever got with it," and that the explanation might unfold differently on the show. A Canterlot Wedding Luna makes cameo appearances in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 and Part 2. In Part 1, Luna takes over the night shift from her sister after flying in silhouetted by the moon, and later tells Twilight to remain inside after spotting her running towards the castle. She appears again in the end of Part 2, when she flies in greeting everyone and asking if she missed anything. Luna dances with the other ponies after Pinkie Pie and DJ Pon-3 start the wedding party music which concludes the episode. The Crystal Empire Luna makes brief appearances in The Crystal Empire - Part 1 and Part 2. In the first part, she expresses doubt to Celestia over whether Twilight is ready for her task. Celestia shows Twilight a flashback where the two sisters worked together to defeat King Sombra, turning him into a shadow with their magic and imprisoning him in the frozen north. Luna reappears at the end of Part 2. She and Celestia watch as Twilight and her friends return home. Luna then conjures up a spiral-bound book, as Celestia nods, confirming that her student is "much closer to being ready." Magical Mystery Cure Luna appears near the end of Magical Mystery Cure alongside her sister and Princess Cadance, attending the coronation of Twilight Sparkle as a Princess. She can be seen wearing a dress and more ornate, elaborate versions of her crown, shoes, and collar. It is also revealed that the book Luna had produced at the end of part 2 of The Crystal Empire was the journal of Star Swirl the Bearded, which contained an unfinished spell that Celestia believed Twilight to be capable of completing. Princess Twilight Sparkle Luna makes appearances in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1 and Part 2. In Part 1, while Princess Celestia speaks to Twilight about the Summer Sun Celebration, Luna is seen on a nearby castle balcony, happily raising the moon. During the episode, she is captured off-screen by black vines growing out of the Everfree Forest. When Twilight drinks a potion given to her by Zecora, she is transported into a castle, where she encounters Luna. Luna proclaims that she will be the only princess in Equestria, and she undergoes a transformation into Nightmare Moon, much to Twilight's horror. In Part 2, Celestia arrives to the scene, and an aerial fight ensues. Twilight soon realizes that the potion has taken her to the past, and that she is witnessing the banishment of Nightmare Moon. Moments later, Celestia uses the Elements of Harmony to banish Luna to the moon. Twilight drinks the potion again and witnesses Luna and Celestia battling Discord and turning him to stone for the first time. She also sees the two sisters taking the Elements from the Tree of Harmony. Later, Twilight and her friends free her and Celestia in Part 2 by giving up the Elements of Harmony to the Tree of Harmony. At the end of Part 2, Luna takes part in the Summer Sun Celebration, lowering the moon so Celestia could raise the sun. Twilight's Kingdom In Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1, Luna assists Celestia, Cadance and Twilight in welcoming the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia. Shortly after, Luna joins Celestia and Cadance in a song, admitting to Twilight that she understands how she is feeling. Later in the evening, Luna rushes into Celestia's room when she hears her scream from having a nightmare. She informs Celestia that she did not have a dream, but rather a vision. The next morning, she and Celestia tell Twilight the story of Lord Tirek and his brother Scorpan, and how Tirek was imprisoned in Tartarus. Luna mentions that they believe Tirek escaped during the events ofIt's About Time when Cerberus left his post and attacked Ponyville. In Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2, she and the other princesses transfer their magic to Twilight; Luna's cutie mark—unlike those of Celestia, Cadance, and the ponies whose magic Tirek steals—does not completely disappear,1 losing only the moon marking and keeping the darker part underneath. Tirek and Discord eventually break into Canterlot Castle and Tirek attempts to steal the three princesses' magic, but soon learns that they have transferred it all to Twilight. Luna, along with Cadance and Celestia, is sent to Tartarus as revenge for Tirek's original imprisonment. After Tirek is defeated, the three princesses are released and return home to Equestria. The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2 In The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2, due to Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle altering the past, Nightmare Moon appears as the ruler of Equestria in an alternate timeline, where she brings about eternal night and banishes Princess Celestia to the moon. She expresses interest in Twilight's time traveling, but Twilight gets away before she can use the time magic to her benefit. On Sora's Team After Sora sealed the forbidden door across the forests, Luna and her sister approved of Sora and his team for uniting their world with other worlds to become one. And Luna; as the other princesses; are able to contact the team for assistance when Heartless and Slender Mane return.Category:My Little Pony characters Category:Villains Category:Maleficent's Team Category:Animals Category:Unicorns Category:Pegasēs Category:Horses Category:Princesses Category:Royalty Category:Magic Users Category:Sora's Team Category:Adults Category:Iconic characters Category:Creatures Category:Elemental characters Category:Females Category:Siblings Category:Haoshoku Haki Users Category:Haki Users Category:Non-Disney characters Category:TV Animation characters Category:Singing characters Category:Reformed characters Category:Former Villains